MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
JUSTIN LONDON
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Abstract of game
One of the nations most popular games, Trivial Pursuit, now has a new makeover
with multimedia. Players will play the multimedia version which will ask questions from
different categories such as Cinema, Music, Art, and People, by playing and displaying video
clips, avi’s, audio wave sounds, and bitmap images from memorable music videos, movies
scenes, sports events, historical places, etc. The game will challenge even the best trivia
enthusiast with questions at different skill levels and multimedia in various forms. The game
is timed and up to four players can play at their own level, Novice, Smart Guy, and Trivia
Expert where the questions will be in a difficulty range corresponding to the players skill
level entered before the game starts. There are many unique options and features which
make the game different and better than the board game.
Game genre:
The game genre is in the category of interactive game shows such as Jeopardy and
You Don’t Know Jack.
Game Play and Appearance:
The game plays as follows: First, the players sees a splash screen which then leads
them to the player information screen (form) which gathers the number of players playing,
the names of the players, their skill level, and the number of points they want to play up to
etc. The game then loads the questions from a database which contains all the information
about each question including the difficulty level and all the different answers to choose
from. The game has the play option of multiple choice or text answer by the player. The
players also have the choice of choosing the number of points they want to play up to and the
amount of time allowed to answer each question and whether a player can lose points for
answering a question incorrectly.
The game includes special features: replays and hints/removes.
Each player gets
three replays that they can use—they can view a scene, video clip, or hear an audio clip again
in the event that the scene or audio clip did not ring a bell the first time. In multiple choice
trivial pursuit, a player gets two “remove” options—the game will remove an incorrect
answer and leave the remaining answers to choose from. In text answer, they will receive
text displayed hints in a Hint box. Each player gets three hints that they can use and use at
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most two hints per question. There are many play and option settings as discussed in the
Game Specification.
Once the game starts, each player will receive a random question generated by the
program. The program contains logic that ensures that no question is asked more than once.
Most questions will have a multimedia aspect to them—either a video clip, audio wave file,
and/or a bitmap image will be shown that goes along with the question. There will be a timer
at the top of the screen so that the player can see how much time is remaining. Once the
timer gets to 0, a “Time Up” message is displayed and the players loses the chance to answer
The next question will be asked to the next player if there is more than one player.
The objective for each player is to get to the target number of points before the other
players. Depending on the skill level of the player and whether they play in penalty mode,
whereby they can lose points for answering a question incorrectly, it could be challenging to
win. Afterwards, the game evaluates their overall performance by calculating their score
percentage, the number of total questions answered correctly divided by the total number
answered to win. If only one player is playing, once the total points is reached, the game
goes directly to the results display. Otherwise, a winner animation is shown and then the
results display.
PRODUCT SPECIFICATION:
Production Team:
The production team consists of only myself.
I designed the GUI forms, Flash
animations, and did all the database programming (with the aid of DataEnvironment,
Connection, and Command ADO objects). I also designed the database table including all
the information and data for all of the fields required for each record. Aside from the
programming challenge, I am responsible for providing unique, challenging, and fun
questions that are entertaining. While I try to provide a good distribution of questions from
different categories, the bulk come from Cinema and Music since they have the most
multimedia aspects to them such as music videos, clips, and movie trailers.
Target Audience:
The target audience is for families (it is a great family get-together game) as well as
teenagers and adults, especially those who love trivia and multimedia. The game is designed
with the sole purpose for entertainment and fun so that lots of entertaining multimedia
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aspects are incorporated in the game. This includes movie trailers and video clips of popular
movies, music videos, and scenes of memorable places, people, and events.
Game Play Time:
The game play time will vary depending on the number of players and the skill level
of the player. On average, the game could take anywhere between 10 minutes to 25 minutes
assuming two players who play up to 75 points (each question is worth 5 points and they lose
two points for answering a question incorrectly (in penalty mode), and it takes on average 15
seconds to respond to each question (each player has 30 seconds to respond to a question
before they lose there turn.
The game also includes challenge questions which could
increase or decrease the time play since a correct answer is worth 10 points and an incorrect
answer loses 7 points.
Production Tools:
The game was developed in Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition in Microsoft Visual
Studio. All GUI forms of the game were developed with VB design tools including built-in
Components such as picture boxes, labels, buttons, list boxes, text boxes, etc. as well as
external ActiveX components, controls, and references including timers, Windows Media
Player, and Flash Players. The game interfaces with a back-end database developed in
Microsoft Access using Active Data Objects (ADO), i.e., the DataEnvironment object, which
simplifies the database programming due to the built-in connection and driver support. The
multimedia avi, wave, and bitmap files were taken from selected Internet sites.
Flash 4.0 is used for the Splash screen at the beginning of the game as well after the
game in both the winner animation (if a player wins and more than one player is playing), the
animation if the player loses to the computer, and the ending credits form which
acknowledges all of the film and music companies who own the clips and copyrights of the
pictures, video, and sound clips used in the game.
USER GUIDE:
Installation:
To install the game, click the Setup Icon on the CD-ROM. The installation wizard
will create all the directories and copy all the files to the correct directories and
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subdirectories including all of the multimedia files, bitmaps, dlls, and ActiveX components
(.ocx files) needed. To start the game, go to (1) Start, (2) Programs, and (3) Click on
Multimedia Trivial Pursuit which will start the executable. The game requires approximately
650 MB of free disk space to run the game from the hard drive and runs on Windows
Me/2000.
How to Play the Game:
T.he game requires interaction and use of a mouse. The player must first enter the
number of players by selecting the number of players from the listbox in Form 2.
Form 2. Click Number of Players
The next form, Form 3, includes player information and game options. Each player
must enter their name and select their skill level. By default, all players are at the Novice
level. In the play options, they can select from the different options, total points played to,
multiple choice or text play mode, background sound effects, penalty mode, computer play,
computer skill level, and whether to play all question levels (Play All Level Option). If no
options are selected, the game will use all the default settings—multiple choice mode, timer
at 30 seconds, no computer play, Novice level playing from all categories.
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Form 3 User Information and Play Options
After clicking the Next button, Form 4 is displayed. The user selects the categories
that they want to play from (by default the game will play from them all). They can also set
the timer options—“on” or “off”. If the timer is on, they can set the time amount, 15 or 30
seconds, as well as whether to play in Speed Play mode. After all the play settings and
options have been set, the game begins.
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Form 4 Category and Timer Options
In multiple choice mode, the player will see four multiple choice answers. The player
clicks on the answer that they think is correct. Figure 1 shows the game interface in multiple
choice mode. If the player is correct, a pop message will say “Correct” and their score will
increase by 5 points. If the player is incorrect, a pop-up message will say “Incorrect” and
display the correct answer. If the player is playing in penalty mode, they will lose 2 points.
If they are not, they will not lose any points. If more than one 1 player is playing (including
the computer), the game will then ask the next player their question. After all other players
have been asked their questions, it will be player 1’s turn again. If the computer is playing,
the a message box will display what answer the computer has chosen and then answer
message box indicating whether the computer is correct or incorrect.
The score, time, and category of the question is displayed in the upper left of the
game interface. The user can adjust the volume level of the sound by moving the volume
control slider in the lower right.
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Figure 1 Game Interface in Multiple Choice Mode
Each player can click on Hints to have an incorrect answer removed in multiple
choice mode. Each player receives a total of 3 Hints for the entire game. They will be
notified with a message that they have no more hints if they click on Hints when they have
none. The user can also click on Replays to replay a video clip or sound clip. Each player
has a total of 3 replays available to them.
In text answer mode, the player enters their answer in the text answer box and clicks
the Submit button to submit their answer when finished. Figure 2 shows the game interface
in text answer mode. The game logic is case insensitive, but is sensitive to the spelling—the
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answer must be spelled correctly or it will be incorrect. If the computer is playing, the
computer will type (display) its answer in the text answer box. If a player is correct, just as
in multiple choice mode, a pop-up message will display “Correct”. Otherwise, it will display
“Incorrect” along with the correct answer. The game will alternate between players in a
round robin when asking questions to each player.
Figure 2 Game Interface in Text Answer Mode
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If the player clicks on Hints, a Hint display box will display a text hint if one exists.
The player can receive a maximum of 2 text hints per text answer question. Some questions
may only have one text display hint, some may have two, and some may have none. If a
question has none or only one, a text message saying “There are no more hints for this
question” will be shown.
Challenge Questions
During the game, a player may be asked if they want to accept a challenge question.
The player will be asked if they want to accept and receive a challenge question. If they
click “Yes”, then if they get the answer correct they will get 10 points instead of just 5. But
if they are wrong, they will lose 7 points regardless of whether they are in penalty mode or
not. If they don’t accept, then the question is asked just like all the other questions—a
correct answer will get 5 points and an incorrect answer in penalty mode will lose 2 points.
Essentially, accepting to receive a challenge question is a way for the player to get closer or
farther from the total number of points needed to win by “gambling” on whether they will
answer the next randomly generated question correctly or not.
In either multiple choice or text mode, a player wins by reaching the total number of
points (selected at the beginning of the game) first. If more than one player is playing, the
player will be notified with a “You win!” message. The winner will then hear clapping from
the audience (a sound clip) and see a Flash Animation announcing that they have won.
Afterwards, a Results Display form, shown in Figure 3, will display the results of all the
players as well as comments about the overall performance of each player based on the
percentage of questions they answer correctly.
If only one player is playing, then the game
will say “Total points reached” (since they are not competing against anyone) and then
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display
the
results.
Figure 3 Result Form
After the Results Form, the credits form will be shown acknowledging all of the film
and music companies that own the copyrights of all video and music clips used throughout
the game.
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GAME SPECIFICATION
Game Play
The game has many options and features to make the game more fun and challenging.
The first major feature is the play mode: multiple choice or text answer. If the player
choosers multiple choice, they will receive 4 multiple choice answers to choose from. The
answers will appear on buttons that can be clicked on with a mouse. In text answer mode,
the user will type their answer in a text box and click a submit button when finished. The
game will compare the player’s answer with the correct answer stored in the database. If
they match the answer is correct. If not, it is wrong. In this first version of the game, the
player must enter the identical spelling of the answer in the database since no dictionary
look-up feature is used. The answers must be identical though the it is not sensitive to lower
and upper case letters since the logic of the game converts all answers to upper case.
The second main feature is computer-play. If only one person decides to play, they
can also play against the computer which can play in both multiple choice and text mode. In
both modes, a pop-up message box will tell what choice the computer has made. In multiple
choice mode, the focus will then go to the button with that answer. In text mode, the answer
will appear in the text box.
The forms displayed are as follows: The player initially sees a load-up Splash screen
with cool multimedia effects to get them interested.
The player then enters the number of
players. Once the number of players is selected, each player must enter their name and skill
level. The game mode must be agreed by all players. The game can be played in multiple
choice format or text mode in which case each player must type their answer. The latter
mode is much more challenging and requires the player to correctly spell their answer. Later
versions of the game will have a spell checker and compare the players answer with similar
spellings if it is close in spelling, but not quite right. The players must also pick the number
of total points to play up to—the first to reach the total number of points wins.
Interface:
Figure 1 shows the interface mockup of a typical question in multiple choice mode—
the player gets it wrong and a pop-up message box tells the player the correct answer. What
makes the game fun is that there are many questions and all of them have a multimedia
aspect to them—via video, audio, and/or bitmap images.
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Storyboards and Character Bibles
Each player is their own character. The plot is simple—win the game by earning the
target number of points first. If you are playing by yourself, you will be evaluated on your
performance at the end of the game. While the game doesn’t have perhaps the action of
Quake or Doom, it is just as fun if not more so due to all the multimedia files incorporated
into the game. Each question is uniquely designed with the proper images, scenes, and
audio. The game does not have a story line or any character bibles. But it does have a
unique use and integration of multimedia that few games have.
Level and Option Modes:
The game has several play option modes to make the game more fun and more
challenging as detailed and discussed below. The game can be played with up to four
players. One player can also play against the computer.
Play Mode:
The main play option is multiple choice or text answer mode. In multiple choice
mode, the player is presented with four multiple choice answers (displayed on command
buttons) and chooses their answer by clicking on the button with the displayed answer. If
their answer is correct, a message box will display “Correct”, otherwise a message box will
display, “Incorrect” and also display the correct answer. Version 1.2 of the game will
include 4 and 5 multiple choice modes—the choice to have 4 possible answers or 5. The
probability of a random guess as correct in 5 choice mode is lower—20% and will make the
game slightly more challenging.
If the player chooses text answer mode, the user interface will display a text answer
box and a submit button. The player types in their answer and clicks the Submit button when
finished. The same message box will appear for a correct or incorrect answer as in multiple
choice mode.
Hint Option:
If hints are enabled, the user can click on the Hint button to get a clue about the
correct answer. In multiple choice mode, an incorrect answer (button) is removed, i.e. it’s
Visible property is set to false. In text mode, a label appears with a text clue. The user can
get use up to 2 hints per question and receives a total of 3 hints per game
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Total Points:
The total number of points to played for can be changed by clicking on the desired
number in the total point list box. The player can choose to play between 10 and 100 points.
Each question is worth five points.
Penalty Option:
In penalty mode, if turned on, will deduct 3 points for each incorrect answer. If
turned “off”, no points will be deducted for an incorrect answer.
Skill Option:
The skill level chosen for a player determines the difficulty level of the questions they
are asked. The player can elect to play at the Novice, Smart, or Expert level—questions from
the Expert level will be much hard than those at the Novice level. Questions from the Smart
level are of medium difficulty—between easy and hard. While there is subjectivity as to
what constitutes an easy, medium, or difficult question, I have tried to categorize questions
that I think the average person would find easy, medium, or difficult, respectively. Finally,
as the player gets closer to the total points needed to win, the questions will get harder for all
players to make the game even more challenging. By default, each player is set to Novice.
Play-All Mode:
If Play-All Levels mode is selected (by clicking the checkbox), the computer will ask
questions from all skill levels. This is for the player that wants a variation in the difficulty of
the questions over the course of the game.
Timer Option:
The player can elect to play timed—players can choose to be timed 15 or 30 seconds
for each question. When time is up, the correct answer is displayed and the next question is
shown. The player can also elect to play in Speed Play mode—a speed timer that starts at 60
seconds and quickly counts down to 0. By default, the timer is “on” and set to 30 seconds.
Background Sound Effects:
The user can turn sound effects “on” or “off”. If “on”, background music (from Who
Wants to be a Millionaire) will played before each question. By default, this option is “off”.
Computer Play:
If only one player is playing, they can choose to also play against the computer. By
default, this option is not enabled unless only one player is chosen. If it is turned off, the
computer skill levels options are enabled. In this mode, the computer’s skill level can be set
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to Novice, Smart, or Expert. the default computer skill is Novice.
A rule-based expert
system determines the probability of the computer being correct based on the skill level
chosen for the computer. If the computer is selected to be a novice, then the computer has
1/3 chance to have a 25% of being correct, a 1/3 chance to have a 33.3% chance of being
correct, and 1/3 chance to have a 50% chance of being correct.
This increases the
randomization of the computer since the player never knows the actual likelihood of the
computer being correct.
However, if the computer is a novice, it has an expected chance of
E[X] = (1/3)(1/4) + (1/3)(1/3) + (1/3)(1/2) = 1/12 + 1/9 + 1/6 = 0.361 = 36.1%
of being correct over the course of the game, where X is an indicator variable such that X =
1 if the compute is correct and X = 0 if the computer is incorrect. If the computer is at the
Smart Level is has an expectation of E[X] = (1/2)(1/3) + (1/2)(1/2) = 0.4166  41.7% of
being correct over the course of the game, and if it is on Expert Level, is always has a 50% of
being correct.
If the player is in Play-All mode where questions from any skill level can be asked,
then computer has a probability of being correct of: E[X] = (N/T)(0.361) + (S/T)(0.471) +
(E/T)(0.5) where N = the total number of novice level questions that are asked, S = the total
number of smart level questions that are asked, E = the total number of expert level questions
that are asked, and T = the total number of questions that can be asked where T = N + S + E.
For example, if N = 4, S = 7, E = 6, then the expected percentage of questions the computer
will answer correctly is E[X] = (4/17)(0.361) + (7/17)(0.471) + (6/17)(0.5) = 0.455 = 45.5%.
This number will change depending on N, S, and E. If we assume a fair distribution of the
questions from each skill level such that any question from any skill level has an equal
chance of being chosen in Play-All mode, then E[X] = (1/3)(0.361) + (1/3)(0.471) +
(1/3)(0.5) = 0.444  44.4%. To make the game more challenging, if in fact the player is in
Play-All mode and if the computer gets an expert level question, it will then have a 1/2
chance of being correct with probability 1/2 and a 1/2 chance of being correct with certainty.
Thus, E[X] = (1/3)(0.361) + (1/3)(0.471) + (1/3)(0.75) = 0.527 = 52.7%, being correct on
average more than 50% of the time.
If the computer is 15 or more point behind, it will get it’s current question correct
with certainty to add a little artificial intellgence to the game.
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Category Selection:
The question categories include Cinema, Music, People, Art, and Geography.
The player can select to play from all categories or select only those categories that they want
to play from. In Version 1 of the game, most of the questions come from Cinema and Music
and because there are a limited number of questions (250), the game will include those
categories. Version 1.2 will allow the player to be more selective since there will be more
questions. By default, all categories are played (the Play All Categories check box is
checked).
Game Features
The game has some special features:
Did You Know…
After a question is answered, the game will give the correct answer as well as some
additional information or tidbits about the topic of the question if there are any. The
additional facts are highlights about the subject of the question just asked and adds
entertainment value to the game. A pop-up form will display more information and/or
bitmaps related to the question. The form will automatically close itself. .
Volume Control
The game also includes a volume control so that user’s can control the volume level.
The control is a slider. As the position of the slider tab moves left, the volume is reduced and
as the slider tab moves right, the volume level increases.
Animation
If a player wins by reaching or exceeding the total points played for first, they will be
taken to a winner form that will have clapping in the background and a Flash animation. If
the user plays against the computer and loses, they will see a special Flash Animation poking
fun at them (they lost to a computer) before going to the Results form.
DESIGN SPECIFICATION:
Implementation Details
Multimedia Trivial Pursuit uses a GUI front-end developed in Visual Basic that
contains various buttons and controls for the user to interact with. In particular, in multiple
choice mode, there are four multiple choice answer buttons to choose from as shown in
Figure 1 and in text answer mode there is a text box with a Submit button as seen in Figure 2.
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The player can also view the timer shown in the upper left hand corner which is ticking down
to 0.
The player’s score appears in the upper right hand corner and is updated after each
question is answered. Players have the option of being penalized if they answer a question
incorrectly by playing in penalty mode. The game logic keeps track of each player’s score,
name, number of correct questions, number of incorrect questions (through use of an array
of player records data structure), questions asked, remaining time for each question, and
handles for opening, buffering, and loading of wave and video data files. The game makes
sure that the questions asked are commensurate with the player’s skill level.
I had the
responsibility of coding the difficulty level of each question into the Level field of each
question record.
The game interfaces with a Microsoft Access database as a back-end through a
DataEnvironment ADO object which is an object that facilitates the connection and opening
of the database for the reading of records. The database contains the following information
for each record: question, 4 possible answers, the correct answer, type of multimedia used,
path of multimedia files, difficulty level of question, additional info, and hints (for text
mode). The database structure is detailed in the Design Specification. Most fields are text
(VARCHAR).
The game makes extensive
use of Win32 API dlls for the video and audio
programming. The dlls are imported into the game through Module libraries. Classes
include VideoPlayer and WavePlayer objects to open, control, and close video and audio
devices.
Game Challenges:
There are a couple of major issues that made developing and implementing the game
quite challenging. First, Visual Basic does not have an inherent multithreading model like
C++ such as the Sleep, ThreadProc, and Wait thread functions. In fact, it does not have any
built functions to deal with thread synchronization and resource locking. Consequently, the
synchronization of the loading of questions and answers from the database, while
simultaneous loading, opening, and playing sound, bitmaps, and avi files became the main
implementation detail.
There were threading issues with the timer events. The game utilizes multiple timers
and timing events which are running concurrently, in the background, with the running of
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other processes, i.e., loading of wave files.
Preventing deadlock for the simultaneous
acquisition of resources like memory between different processes was necessary.
Performance degradation in the loading of large files at run time was a common
problem.
It turns out, however, that if the files are located on the hard drive and not read
from a CD-ROM or loaded from a dll or embedded resource, the game runs smoothly and
there are no racing conditions. This can be attributed to the fact that the time to locate the
file, load and open it, is significantly reduced if a file pointer does not have to search a CDROM or dll. This comes at the expense of distributing an enormous number of files and
requiring a huge amount of disk space, at least 650 MB. In Version 1.2, use of dll’s will be
used in conjunction with Win32 API threading calls.
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Architecture:
A flow diagram of the design architecture is shown:
Multimedia Directory
Wave
Files
Input:
Question
Responses
VB GUI
Forms
Output
Video AVI
and MOV
files
Bitmap
Files
Game Logic And Data
Processing
(Display Questions And
Answers)
DataEnvir
onment
ADO
Microsoft
Access DB
Modules
MCI Registry
Functions
Video Player
Win32 dlls
winmm.dll
Class
Modules
Utilities
Wave Player
Helper
Modules
Timer
As can be seen, the main game logic engine must handle the interface with the
database, the Win32 dlls, modules, class modules, and the interface with the user GUI.
Data Structures and Interface Definition
The main data structure is the Player data structure that is a record of all of the
Player’s attributes. The game uses an array of records to store each player’s information and
attributes:
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Type PlayerRecord
PlayerName As String
// Name of Player
SkillLevel As String
// Play of Level of Player (Novice, Smart, Expert)
Replays As Integer
// Number of Replays Available
Hints As Integer
// Number of Hints Available
Score As Integer
// Current Score of Player
NumCorrect As Integer
// Number of Correct Questions Answered
NumIncorrect As Integer // Number of Incorrect Questions Answered
End Type
The backend Access database contains the following table:
Field
Question Number
Question
Answer 1
Answer 2
Answer 3
Answer 4
Correct Answer
Media Type
Meida Path
Bitmap 1
Bitmap 2
Category
Media Constant
Additional Info
Hint 1
Hint 2
Datatype
Number
VARCHAR(80)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
VARCHAR(50)
Number
VARCHAR(120)
VARCHAR(120)
VARCHAR(120)
Comment
Primary Key
Contains Question
Answer Choice 1
Answer Choice 2
Answer Choice 3
Answer Choice 4
Answer Choice
Wave OR Avi Flag
Path of Wave or Avi file
Name of Bitmap to Display
Bitmap to Display in AddInfo
Question Category
Cross References DLL Ref
Tidbit Additional Info
Hint 1 for Text Answer
Hint 2 for Text Answer
Note: VARCHAR = STRING
The fields are referenced in the game using the DataEnvironment ADO (ActiveX
DataObject). For example, to retrieve the question, the following construct is used
DataEnvironment1.rsCommand1.Fields(2).Value
since Field 2 is the Question field.
Pseudocode for Algorithms
In main game loop, the game goes through the following algorithm:
Initialize all global variables and each player’s record structure
Initialize all Question Flags = False // Questions have not been asked
player_num = 0
Do Until total points = True
If player_num > 1 Then // if there is more than one player, go to next player
player_num = player_num + 1
End If
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If player_num > 4 Then // it is player’s 1 turn again
player_num = 1
End If
Refresh Picture Control
If wave or avi files playing // playing from previous question
Stop playing
Reset wave and video player
End If
QuestionNum = RandomNumber(1 To RecordCount)
If Question Flag = True
Do Until Question(questionNum).Flag = False
questionNum = Random Number(1 to RecordCount)
Loop
End If
Move to Record questionNum // go to question # questionNum
Start Timer // start timing of question
Display Question(questionNum)
Question(questionNum).Flag = True // Question has been asked
Question_cnt = Question_cnt + 1
// increment number of questions asked
// Randomly Display Answers
Display Answer 1
Display Answer 2
Display Answer 3
Display Answer 4
// Check whether to play a wave or avi file
If DataEnviroment.rsCommand.Field(8).Value = “wav” or “avi”
If Database.Field(8).Value = “wav” Then
Retrieve wave file name //in DataEnvironment.rsCommand.Field(9).Value
Load and open wave file with Wave Player object
Play
wave
file
End If
If Database.Field(8).Value = “avi” Then
Retrieve avi file name // in DataEnvironment.rsCommand.Field(9).Value
Load and open avi file with Video Player object
Play avi file
End If
// Check whether to display a bitmap
If DataEnvironment.rsCommand.Field(10).Value <> Null
Retrieve Bitmap File // in DataEnvironmentl.rsCommand.Fields(10).Value
Load Picture
End If
// Get Player’s Response
If Timer <> 0 Then
If play_mode = Multiple Choice Then
If Player(player_num).Choice = Correct Answer
Player(player_num).Score = Player(i).Score + 5
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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Player(player_num).NumCorrect = Player(player_num).NumCorrect
Display Correct Message
Else
If penalty_mode = True Then
Player(i).Score = Player(i).Score – 2
End If
Player(player_num).NumIncorrect = Player(player_num).NumIncorrect + 1
Display Incorrect Message + Incorrect Answer
End If
Else // play_mode =Text Answer
If Player(i).TextAnswer = Correct Answer
Player(i).Score = Player(i).Score + 5
Player(i).NumCorrect = Player(i).NumCorrect
Display Correct Message
Else
If penalty_mode = True Then
Player(i).Score = Player(i).Score – 2
End If
Player(i).NumIncorrect = Player(i).NumIncorrect + 1
Display Incorrect Message + Correct Answer
End If
Else
Display Time Up Message
Display Correct Answer
End If
Loop
Display Winner Animation and Results Form
The game incorporates the following simplified algorithm1 for the computer AI
// computer is behind, so make sure it guesses the corret answerIf Player(player_num 1).Score - Player(player_num).Score >= 15 Then
i = correct_ans
Choose MultChoice (i)
Else
Select computer_skill level
“Novice” : num = random number between 1 and 4 // 25% chance of being correct
Choose answer num
“Smart” : num= random number between 1 and 3
Check that correct answer is one of the answers in 1 to 3 // 33.3% chance
Choose answer num
“Expert” : num = random number between 1 and 2
Check that correct answer is one of the answers in 1 to 2 // 50% chance
Choose answer num
End If
1
The actual code is quite long and somewhat complex so I have included a simplified version.
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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The game form display flow and game logic flow diagrams are shown below:
Flow of Game Forms
Splash Form
Display Splash
Screen
Form1
Form2
Display Multimedia
Trivial Pursuit
Animation with
Flash Player
Choose Number of
Players in List Box
Form3
Enter Player
Information
Text Box
Option Buttons
Enter Play Mode
Options
Player Name
Play Mode:
Multiple Choice or Text
Choose Player Skill
Option Buttons
Option Buttons
Penalty Mode
Computer Play
Option Buttons
Computer Skill
Option Buttons
Play-All Levels
Check Box
Form 4
Check boxes
Form 6
Choose Timer
Options
Choose Categories
Tidbits without
Picture
Timer Mode
Option Buttons
Speed Play
Option Buttons
Form 5
Game User
Interface
Form 7
Tidbits with Picture
Form 8
Display Winner with
Flash Player
Form 9
Results
Form 10
Credits
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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Flow Chart of Game Logic
Initialize all global
variables and play
settings
No
Generate random
question number
Yes
Has Question been
asked before ?
No
Display Did you Know ...
Tidbits About Question
No
Yes
Yes
Load and Display
question and answers
(if multiple choice
mode)
Does question have
any tidbits info?
Update Players Score += 5
Update Num Questions
Correct += 1
Are wav or avi
files used with
question?
Yes
Is player's
answers correct?
No
Update Num Questions
Incorrect += 1
No
No
Display Winner
Animation and
Results
Is penalty mode
on?
Is player's score
>= total_score
Yes
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Yes
Update Players Score -= 3
Update Num Questions
Incorrect += 1
MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
JUSTIN LONDON
The game uses two main structures for playing video and wave files: a Video Player
class and a Wave Player class2. Each class contains properties (attributes) and methods
which make use of Win32 API functions:
(1) Private Declare Function mciSendCommand Lib "winmm.dll" Alias
"mciSendCommandA" (ByVal wDeviceID As Long, ByVal uMessage As Long, _
ByVal dwParam1 As Long, dwParam2 As Any) As Long
(2) Private Declare Function GetClientRect Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, lpRect
As RECT) As Long
GetClienmtRect is used in the Center Function and mciSendCommand is used to open, close,
play, pause, and stop the Video Player with MCI_ commands. For example, in the Play
Function MCI_PLAY is passed in.
Private mlngDevID As Long // Device ID
Public Sub Play()
Dim lngRet As Long
Dim mpp As MCI_PLAY_PARMS
If mlngDevID Then
lngRet = mciSendCommand(mlngDevID, MCI_PLAY, 0&, 0&) // command to play
If lngRet <> 0 Then
Err.Raise lngRet, "VideoPlayer::Play", _ // traps error
dhMCIError(lngRet)
End If
End If
End Sub
The complete Video Player class is:
Class Video Player
{
Methods:
Private Sub OpenDevice(Optional strFile As String) // opens device
Private Sub Class_Initialize() // calls open device
Private Sub CloseDevice() // closes device
Public Sub OpenFile(AVIFile As String) // opens AviFile
Public Sub Play()
// plays video clip
Public Sub StopPlaying()
// stops the play of video clip
Public Sub Center()
// centers video clip in center of form
Properties:
Property Get Filename() As String // gets name current playing file
2
The classes are reusable classes developed by Ken Getz and Mike Gilbert from the VBA Developer's
Handbook, Sybex (1997).
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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Property Get IsPlaying() As Boolean // determines if video clip is playing
Property Get Length() As Long
// gets length of video clip
Property Get hwnd() As Long
// gets current window handle of videoplayer
Property Let hwnd(hwnd As Long) // sets current window handle
Property Get Stretch() As Boolean // tests if video clip gets stretched when window resized
Property Let Stretch(fStretch As Boolean) // sets stretch property
}
The class definition for the Wave Player is:
class Wave Player
{
Methods:
Private Sub OpenDevice(Optional strFile As String = "") // open wave player device
Public Sub OpenFile(WaveFile As String) // Open wave file
Public Sub Play(Optional StartTime As Long, Optional StopTime As Long) // Play wave
Private Sub CloseDevice() // close wave player
Public Sub Reset() // reset wave player by calling OpenDevice
Private Sub ChangeSetting(lngSetting As Long, lngNewValue As Long) // change
// bitsperchannel
Properties:
Property Get Wait() As Boolean // gets wait flag
Property Let Wait(bWait As Boolean) // sets wait flag
Property Get Position() As Long // gets position of
Property Get Length() As Long // gets length of wave file
Property Get Filename() As String // gets wave file name
Property Get Channels() As Byte // gets number of channels
Property Let Channels(byteChannel As Byte)
}
The Wave Player makes a lot of use of the dhMCIStatus function:
Function dhMCIStatus(lngDevID As Long, lngItem As Long, Optional lngAddlFlags As Long =
0, Optional bytTrack As Byte = 0) As Long
' Returns the results of the MCI_STATUS command.
' In:
' lngDevID
'
Valid MCI device ID.
' lngItem
'
MCI_STATUS item (e.g. MCI_STATUS_POSITION).
' lngAddlFlags (Optional, default = 0)
'
Additional flags to pass (e.g. MCI_TRACK).
' bytTrack (Optional, default = 0)
'
If status applies to a track, the track number.
' Out:
' Return Value:
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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'
Status value as a long integer.
' Note:
'
Refer to the list of MCI constants for status items.
' Example:
' lngPosition = dhMCIStatus(lngDevID, MCI_POSITION)
Dim mst As MCI_STATUS_PARMS
Dim lngRet As Long
' Make sure device ID is valid
If lngDevID Then
' Set values of MCI_STATUS_ITEM structure
With mst
.lngItem = lngItem
.lngTrack = bytTrack
' Call mciSendCommand
lngRet = mciSendCommand(lngDevID, MCI_STATUS, _
MCI_STATUS_ITEM Or lngAddlFlags, mst)
' If successful, return lngReturn
' member of MCI_STATUS_ITEM structure
If lngRet = 0 Then
dhMCIStatus = .lngReturn
End If
End With
End If
End Function
ErrorHandling:
The game incorporates an error handling function, dhError,throughout the game,
rather than just use Goto OnError statements—when loading questions, answers, wave files,
avi files, and bitmap:
Function dhError( _
Optional strProc As String = "<unknown>", _
Optional fRespond As Boolean = False, _
Optional objErr As ErrObject) _
As Boolean
Dim strMessage As String
Dim strTitle As String
Dim intStyle As Integer
'If the user didn't pass an ErrObject, use Err
If objErr Is Nothing Then
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MULTIMEDIA TRIVIAL PURSUIT
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Set objErr = Err
End If
'If there is an error, process it
'otherwise just return True
If objErr.Number = 0 Then
dhError = True
Else
'Build title and message
strTitle = "Error " & objErr.Number & _
"in " & strProc
strMessage = "The following error has occured:" & _
vbCrLf & vbCrLf & objErr.Description
'Set the icon and buttons from MsgBox
intStyle = vbExclamation
If fRespond Then
intStyle = intStyle Or vbOKCancel
End If
'Display message and return result
dhError = (MsgBox(strMessage, _
intStyle, strTitle) = vbOK)
End If
End Function
This allows more customization and control of the error message.
Development Environment
The game was developed in Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition. All forms were developed in
the Visual Basic Design Environment. Microsoft Access was used for the back-end database.
Flash 4.0 was used to design the animations in the introduction, winner, and credit forms by
embedding a FlashPlayer ActiveX control. Other ActiveX components used in the game are
timers in conjunction with timer events and a slider control for the volume.
RAD Game Video and Sound Editing Tool was used to convert Quicktime mov files to avi video
format and to convert mp3 sound files to wave format. Microsoft Paint was used to edit all the
bitmap images.
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